Jewelry Design by Suzanne

After taking metalsmithing classes my junior year abroad in Italy, I decided I wanted to start my own jewelry design company. Post our '06 graduation I studied at RISD in their jewelry and metalsmithing dept. and this gave me a much better understanding of design and fabrication. Over the past few years, with lots of encouragement from my Brown friends, I started my own company, designing and producing fashion and fine jewelry.

This past month, I just launched a new e-commerce website with the help of some talented

RISD web designers at PixelSynthesis.

Kirakira Jewelry

As I've been living in Japan for the past 3 years, I will also have a Japanese version of the site up in the next month. I'm excited to see what the next 5 years bring,

and can't wait to catch up with classmates at Campus Dance!

http://suzsomer.blogspot.com/

From Brown Bear to Pizza Delivery Guy

When asked during second term '06 what I would do after graduation, I eagerly replied, "working for Domino's." Majority of people wished me well while scratching their heads, attempting to rationalize why an Ivy League graduate would use his degree to make pizzas. While I did learn to make a perfect pizza, Domino's Future Leaders Program has challenged me to develop effective leadership skills and given me firsthand practical knowledge of the ins and outs of the business world. The rotational program prides itself on diverse experiences from the store level to supply chain to corporate headquarters both domestically and abroad. These experiences resulted in relocations to Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Ann Arbor and presently Milwaukee in a consultant role working with business owners in multiple Midwestern states. My dear friend and three year roommate in Miller 105 Carl Harper brought some Bruno sunshine with him on his winter visit to Milwaukee this past year. As '06 commemorates our 5th anniversary, Domino's Pizza proudly celebrates 50 years of making, baking and taking pizzas to customers all over the globe!

5th year CELEBRATION begins EARLY

Just as the New Year was ushered in from east to west, the Brown Athletic Department started our festivities early as well. The first of many 5th year celebrations kicked off this past fall as the 2005 outright Ivy League Football Champions were honored at the Brown vs. Harvard Homecoming game. A near sellout crowd of 17,360 witnessed the first night game in Brown Stadium's 85-year history and played a critical role in Brown's 29-14 thrashing of the Crimson. The surreal moment of standing under the stadium lights side by side with other cheering members from the 2005 team, including a majority of the '06 class, left me with a full tank of how special the Brown family can be. Classmate Danielle Cerny (Best Class Ever Blog 01/20/11) truly recapped this feeling best when she said, "...almost 5 years out, and I feel as connected to the University as I did my first day on College Hill." Each return trip for football games and Commencement, along with the generous hospitality of 06' mate Matt Hostetler, revitalizes me with the enthusiasm and pride Brown fostered over four magical years. Viva '06 & God Bless Brown!

Jamie Gasparella

jamie.gasparella@gmail.com

It All Started At Brown

Like the bloggers before me, I think I’m still wrapping my head around the reality of our impending 5th year reunion. It’s almost hard to believe that we’ve now been out of Brown longer than we were there. Especially when I consider how close I still feel to our alma mater, and how often it impacts my day-to-day life.

But hey, if January isn’t the perfect time to reflect on the past and imagine the future, I dunno when is. So here goes.

I graduated Brown with a political science degree and absolutely no idea what to do with it. (This story gets better, I swear.) In fact, after turning down a consulting offer, I had but one job prospect still in the works as I packed up my Young O dorm- a constituent service position for a Massachusetts state Senator, Susan Fargo. I, by the way, am a New Jersey native… so yeah, the situation wasn’t looking so hot.

Yet after several weeks at home (and far too much television and self-loathing) the call came in: not only did Senator Fargo’s office want me, they wanted me tomorrow! Good thing all my TV commitments were easy to break.

So in what felt like the blink of an eye, I moved my life up to Boston. I’ll never forget that first day of work as I literally followed the freedom trail to the State House’s iconic golden dome. Oh the possibility! The power!

Okay, okay, I know… any of you who have worked in state government (or I would venture to say any level of government) know that it doesn’t take long for that wide-eyed idealism to change into a far more cynical pragmatism. But I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way.

For all the inevitable set-backs and frustrations of government work, the victories (even if they are small and far between) make this one of the most gratifying undertakings I have had the privilege of experiencing. And what a place to learn the inner workings of government – in a state that prides itself in its bold social policies and pension for experimentation, my four years in the State House encompassed a heated battled over same sex marriage, the implementation of a landmark universal health care system, a drastic reorganization of the state’s public transportation bureaucracy, and the devastating realities of a national economy in decline.

While I have since left the State House to pursue a Master of Public Policy at the Kennedy School, I have no doubt that the past four years were only the beginning of my work in the legislative arena.

And even now that I’m at Hahvahd (don’t worry- I have refused to buy even a single Crimson shirt), there is no denying the impact Brown has had on my life.

In fact, I was reminded of that just today as the Kennedy School took a break from the chaos of shopping period (I know! Shopping period! Some things never change.) to reflect on the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s presidential inauguration. While the words of his speech (see the video link below) echoed through the halls of Harvard this afternoon, I was very conscious of the fact that for me, they expressed an optimism and a political ethos that very much took root during my four years at Brown.

Like I said, almost 5 years out, and I feel as connected to the University as I did my first day on College Hill.

See you at the reunion.



Danielle Cerny

(Danielle.Cerny@gmail.com)

Live from BrownTown

It is almost incredible to believe that, like in Garcia Lorca’s famous play, almost five years have passed since we walked through the Van Wickle Gates, away from College Hill in the direction of our dreams and expectations, our high hopes and profound fears.

It is even more incredible to realize that since that seeming "last" moment the Brown community has always been there with unyielding strength. The story of my life during these last five years is only one more testament of this self-evident truth.

My first stop after graduating from Brown took me just one Amtrak stop down to New Haven, where the challenges of enrolling in a new university became more manageable with the meetings of the local Brown alumni club and the already familiar faces in the graduate, law and medical schools.

After two years at Yale and a Master of Arts in Economics I went further south to the nation’s capital to adventure in the intricacies of the World Bank. Once again, the challenges of adapting to a new city and the transition towards the working life were eased by the many Brown friends who had already established themselves in DC. Professional achievements aside, perhaps my greatest DC memories are those with some of my old Brown friends.

Brown alumni and students have also served as key mentors, travel companions around the world and simply good friends. Since graduation Brown has exerted such a lively presence in my life that it has now become a new reality. Indeed, deciding to pursue my Ph.D. in Economics once again at Brown has felt as a homecoming of sorts.

Though several of the buildings have changed the place remains essentially the same. However, I now miss in Providence my closest and truest friends from the outstanding class of 06. That is precisely the reason why I am looking forward so much to our reunion in May.

Greetings from Providence and my hometown Bogota,

Felipe Valencia

401-225-4969

Felipe_Valencia_1@brown.edu

felipev84@gmail.com

Class Notes: Amie Vaccaro

I am so excited for reunion! I can't wait to hear all of your stories and see your glowing faces. Life has brought me on a tremendous ride since graduation, as I'm sure it has for all of us. Quick snapshot - I currently live in San Francisco with my 9 month old cat Coconut. I work hard, I aim to play hard, I ride my bike everywhere and my favorite people are still Brownies. In the following account (what a challenge to sum up 5 years of life lessons in 1 blog post), I'll tell you what's happened since graduation, but please note I have left out the most colorful details which I will gladly share in person. (Some things are just not meant to be shared on the internet.) Over the past 5 years, while my life has been in a continuous state of flux, the one constant has been the Brown community around me. As evidence of that, the two pictures feature Ruth Simmons with fellow 06er Natalya Blumenfeld and me in 2006 and again in 2010.

Like Adam, I started my "career" at Bain & Co in the SF office. I lasted in management consulting for just under 2 years. At best, it was highly educational (almost like business school that pays), lots of fun, challenging, and has helped me get jobs since. At worst it allowed no time for a life. The best thing I did at Bain was start an office green team to lead sustainability initiatives, and when I realized my energy was entirely focused on this extracurricular, I decided it was time to move on.

Thus began a series of jobs in very small companies - generally 2 partners plus me. The Brown community immediately picked me up. My first move was to work with a Brown alumni run venture, Green Zebra, where I started to learn about sales and marketing. And more importantly, confirmed my interest in consumer behavior change. My following two jobs were with a social impact consulting firm where I measured SROI and set up a small coworking space and an environmental startup where I led business development efforts. I became intrigued with the concept of a for profit business that drives social change.

In early 2010, I decided to start a consulting business, Cobblestone Solutions, to work with early stage social enterprises on the issue areas I kept seeing - sales, marketing, and business development. I worked with a dozen or so clients doing different work for each of them, and making it up as I went. Some of my projects included sales for TerraCycle, recruiting and sales for Big Tent, business development for Myoo Create, and a bunch of other gigs. I had never worked so hard and I missed having a core team. I then took on a role as project manager for a small mobile application development company. Here I got to lead the development of 80 mobile apps for Latin America and Europe. I've never had so much on my plate.

Along the way I picked up blogging as I realized that a) anyone will talk to you if you will blog about them, and b) I could get into any conference often for free with a media pass. You can read some of my stuff here. Over the years, I've become involved with a number of organizations. I'm a member of an engaged philanthropy organization, Full Circle Fund, that donates to innovative nonprofits. Through them I've been engaged with a water entrepreneurship nonprofit, Imagine H2O. I'm also on the board of the New Leaders Council, a nonprofit that runs a fellowship program training progressive leaders. And I'm a founding member of a social innovation coworking space, the Hub Soma.

That brings me to today. On Monday I'm starting a new job - where I'll have benefits for the first time since 2008. I'll be product marketing manager for a collaborative education software platform focused on universities - GoingOn. I'm excited to help build the company and develop a deeper skill set. And I have the Brown network to thank for this job too.

Speaking of Brown, I've consistently had a Brown family to lean on, for which I've been truly grateful. In hopes of building that family, I co-founded the Carberry Club with fellow alums. At first this organization served to put on alumni-hosted dinner parties and events where small groups of alums could congregate over food in a casual setting. We're currently taking the Carberry Club to the next level, obtaining nonprofit status for it, and hiring a community manager to build on the strong local alumni community. We want to see what's possible for the alumni community when we have a dedicated resource to plan events, make introductions, reach out to new arrivals, and more. You can check out the early website here.

If you're in the Bay Area, do get in touch - I'd love to see folks and I have 2 comfortable couches reserved for guests. Otherwise - I look forward to seeing you in May!

Amie

amie.vaccaro@gmail.com //415-504-2643

For the Love of Brown

Coincidentally, shortly after I got the email from Sonia and Ari about the '06 blog, I came across this picture while sitting in a cafe in Seoul hanging out with my family over coffee. It was one of hundreds of photos by Elliott Erwitt in his book Snaps. I stared at it for a while, in disbelief that it was in this book of famous photographs of the likes of Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe. And I was flooded by a lot of different emotions--delight, nostalgia, pride, longing.

But most of all, I thought of how I have always been blessed with having Brown around me. What I mean by that is wherever I go, I find Brownies around me. To me, this is so fortuitous because there is no school I love more than Brown and rarely a person, I admire more than a Brown graduate. I used to secretly think that the reason why I got along so well with and was endlessly impressed by Brown graduates was because our alma mater required all applicants to submit the application essay in your own handwriting. Did Brown then hire some handwriting oracle to decipher each of our scribbles? Regardless of what magic happens to pick each and every one of us to grace the halls of Sayles or Salomon, it still holds true that wherever I go, I love my Brownies.

For the last 2 and a half years, I've been living in Philadelphia attending grad school. It's been a really tough time not only because of the economy but I am without 6,000 amazing Brownies to share the happiest of times and get through the hardest of times. Since graduation, I've been back to Brown a couple of times and the place has kept its amazingly inviting and warm aura--I truly miss it every day. Perhaps part of it has to do with the fact that I have been away from New England since graduating, but I know that everyone says it in earnest when Brownies gush that "Brown was simply amazing!" whenever we're asked, "So how did you like it there?"

Last night, a Brown '07 grad who is in the same graduating law class with me asked if I noticed that the undergrads we seem to see around our grad school are so different from Brown students and that she still has a lot of Brown friends exploring things all over the world, trying to figure out what they're really passionate about and what they want to devote their lives doing. For some time, I think I forgot about that--how much Brown always inspired me to be a better version of myself, to always strive to do more good in the world, and to stay true to yourself. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find such an inspiring place or group of professors and students. I truly can't wait to see you all in May and stay warm and healthy 'til then!


lots of love,
grace

Class Notes: Adam Braun

In an attempt to find something that's even remotely as incredible as our time at Bruno, I've spent the majority of the last five years relentlessly searching for places that recreate the magic that we all experienced on campus. These travels led to a few realizations, one of which was the power of education to change the lives of youth.

Following a year of travel after graduation, I moved into NYC to work in management consulting at Bain & Company. Like most 23 year olds, I had no qualifications to consult anyone on anything, I was simply trying to absorb as much as possible from others to one day start a great nonprofit that empowered youth domestically and local communities abroad. In October 2008 I put $25 into a bank account to start Pencils of Promise. With the support of countless incredible people, many of which are Brown Class of 2006 members, PoP has now become one of the fastest growing nonprofits in the country and we've recently broken ground on our 23th school between Laos, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

All of this came full circle when I was recently joined in Laos for a new school opening by the very friends from Brown (below) who helped me get the organization off the ground. It's been a fun and funky journey so far, but there's no doubt that the place that planted the seeds for this all was Brown. I'm so psyched to see everyone at the 5-year reunion, free hugs for all.

In Ruth We Trust,
Adam

Brown Class of 2006 alumni Luke Tedaldi, Adam Tichauer, Gabriel Bourgeois, Dan Teicher and Adam Braun at a recent Pencils of Promise school opening ceremony in Laos